Tools for Remote Pair Programming

Question

Me and a friend are working on a side-project where most of the development is done with both of us sitting on the same machine. We will soon be based in different locations but would like to continue working in a similar manner. What tools would you use to enable such an environment?

EDIT: This includes not only collaborative editing, but also running the code, so a collaborative text editor (such as etherpad/google wave) alone won't do, as we would then have to save locally and execute, which over hundreds of cycles adds up to considerable time lost.

Answer 1

Depends a bit on the environment, but VNC would be a good choice for screen sharing, and skype for voice communication.

Answer 2

Try SubEthaEdit or EtherPad.

I've not used either, but I hear good things about SubEthaEdit, and EtherPad was bought by google, so it must be good.

Answer 3

I've used Yugma before and it worked pretty well. It's a free web conferencing tool.

Answer 4

Try Eclipse with the ECF, here's a video demo. You can skip to the part titled 'Shared Editing'.

Answer 5

It is pretty simple to use Skype with webcams and just share one of the screens. I'm pairing at least once a week. Not driving enough, but it works well. To me the visual and auditory feedback is essential. Seeing my partners face when I'm typing some dubious code provides enough feedback :).

When I'm not driving it works best when I don't have a second screen to distract me, so the laptop on the couch works best.